Encoscopy, the use of optical instruments to view within body cavities, is employed in many medical specialties. Hysteroscopy is a procedure that enables one to view within the uterine cavity. This is accomplished via the transvaginal route and is carried out either in an operating room setting or in a physician's office, utilizing local anesthetic. In its use today, the most common methods employ a distending fluid (either gaseous, or more commonly, liquid) to distend the uterine cavity thereby offering a more panoramic view within an otherwise mere potential space. Although this method has significant advantages in the view obtained, the complexity and sophistication of the instrumentation and methodology present significant disadvantages as well. In addition to this, there is certain risk inherent in the system of delivering distending fluids into the uterus.
One known device described in the Southern Surgeon, Vol. 13, 1947 No. 12 at page 888 and what appears as a similar device in Journal Gynec. Obst. Biol. Repro. 1974, 3, 511-520 attempts to improve viewing with the use of a transparent tube fitted over the end of an endoscope. These devices are believed to be unsatisfactory, however, since they provide either lack of support within the tube for the end of the scope, too much optical distortion, or not enough distention of the cavity.